What are your charity’s registration details?
We are registered with the UK Charity Commission – Charity number 1179864
Do you help only Spinoni?
The majority of the dogs that we help are Spinoni, but not all. Some dogs that we rehome are aristocrats from highly regarded bloodlines. Equally we have also worked with some spinone mixes, if we feel we have a good chance of helping them. Occasionally we have helped with bonded pairs where one is a different breed completely. More on this here.
What is the process of adoption?
What backup do you provide?
We provide backup and support for all the dogs. We have an active community of experienced rescue owners to help provide support in case of any issues. We are, however, rescuers and not behaviourists and we have rarely met either the dog or the adopter. So we very much recommend you have a suitable trainer or behaviourist who can s=observe you and the dog together. In case of insoluble problems, we have a network of experienced foster homes, though this is very rare.
We expect owners to insure their dogs for veterinary expenses but may be able to provide help in some cases, for instance when a dog has a pre-existing condition. All dogs are adopted under a contract stating that the dog must be returned to us for rehoming should the adopter be unable to continue to care for it, for any reason.
Where can I see available dogs?
The best way to hear of new rescues seeking homes is to ‘like’ our page
https://www.facebook.com/Spinone.SOFA/
Make sure you are following the page and receiving notifications – instructions here.
We take applications for each dog individually. We don’t keep a register of potential adopters for a variety of reasons such as time, data protection, and (most of all) changing circumstances.
Please read our Thinking of Adopting? and Adoption Process pages as you’ll find many questions answered there.
I am interested in home checking, fostering or otherwise helping, what can I do?
We greatly appreciate the help!
You can register to be a home checker here.
Home Checker Registration Form
And you can register to help with fostering – we very rarely need fosters but they are vital emergency backup.
Fostering Registration Form
You can also register us as your charity with Amazon Smile, make a donation or small monthly standing order to help our work…or if you have another idea, please do contact us!
If these dogs are registered, why can’t they be returned to the breeder for re-homing?
Some breeders will do this, but they are relatively few. In general the culture is very different. Spinoni are often seen not as life companions but as working dogs, to be discarded when no longer useful. There are many breeders producing dogs only for working purposes, with no support for a failed hunting dog.
Additionally, once a dog has been rescued, its ownership passes to the Italian rescue organisation. These organisations almost never re-home to hunters, and most breeders in Italy have hunting backgrounds, so that creates further difficulties. In the UK, the breed club has an active official rescue arm, but this is sadly not the case in Italy. We do work with some breeders in Italy who are sympathetic and we very much appreciate their support. However they are, unfortunately, a minority.
Why can’t these dogs be rehomed in their own country?
In many countries, including their homeland of Italy, Spinoni and other hunting breeds are difficult to rehome as people have an image of them as living outside and being only working dogs, unsuitable as house pets. However in the UK, the Netherlands and other countries, they are very much in demand.
There are many more people in the UK wanting to rehome a Spinone than there are dogs available. Whilst in Italy, for instance, a Spinone can wait years in kennels for a new home. We match available dogs with suitable homes, provide support for the logistics (and part of the cost) of their transport, and provide backup for the lifetime of the dog.
Other countries such as France, Spain and Cyprus have similar issues. For instance Adopt-a-Griffon rehomes Spanish Griffons and Un Toit de Nos Griffons works with LAARF in France. However there was no-one to specifically help Spinoni, who of course tend to be found more in Italy – hence the formation of this organisation.
If these dogs are of good pedigree, why must they be sterilised?
The concern of the small gene pool of Spinoni in the UK is a valid one, but this is very much a matter for the UK breeders and breed club rather than a rescue organisation, for many reasons. A few of the principal ones are:
• It is not within our constitution as a charity and therefore could compromise our charitable status. Additionally, UK based animal charities, and indeed the charities commission itself, would take a very dim view of imported rescues used at stud.
• Rescue dogs are unsuitable to breed from. The Italian lines are not free from epilepsy and other health issues, and there is no way of reliably assessing a rescue dog’s suitability.
• The pedigree Spinoni we have rehomed are not from endangered lines, but rather from currently active breeders. UK breeders can and do liaise with these breeders to do their utmost to ensure the health and suitability for breeding of the dogs which they import from Italy.
• The dogs come primarily from contacts within the Italian rescue centres. We have built trust with them so that they will allow young dogs to travel to the UK whilst entire, and we later provide proof of sterilisation. This prevents that dog having to either be sterilised too early or languish in a rescue centre until they are able to have the operation. We would not put that trust in jeopardy.
• There is a question of confidentiality. It would be inappropriate of us to release identification information about the dog or its breeder to anyone other than the adopter (and even then, information is not given until we have evidence of sterilisation in the case of a young dog)
• Finally, we would be risking our hard-won charitable status to inform anyone, breeder or family home, about any details of a dog seeking adoption which we do not make universally public.
Do you rehome Spinoni from the UK?
Dogs from the UK are already very well covered by the Italian Spinone Club of Great Britain’s excellent Rescue and Rehome service.
Do you rehome to the US or Canada?
Unfortunately it is impractical for both bureaucratic and financial reasons to rehome a dog across the Atlantic.
The US has its own Spinone rescue organisation on Facebook. For other countries such as South Africa and Australia, we suggest you contact local breeders who may be able to help.